Why alpha4 codes? [was: RE: Question on ISO-639:1988]

[jcowan at reutershealth.com]

John Clews scripsit:

> Why on earth are alpha4 codes suggested for these extended language codes?
> What sort of uses/grounds/syntax would the standard have to ensure that
> they are not confused with ISO 15924 codes?

In a pure ISO context, they wouldn't be, any more than 10-digit (U.S.)
telephone numbers are confused with ISBNs.

In a post-RFC-3066 context they wouldn't be either.  Language codes are
used as the first subtag of an RFC-3066-style identifier, and script
codes appear later if at all.

-- 
John Cowan                              jcowan at reutershealth.com
http://www.reutershealth.com            http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
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